Overwhelmed by size, underwhelmed by quality: A review of EdTech’s largest show, BETT 2018

Junaid Mubeen, Medium, 2018/01/29

This review of BETT by an educator left me with the impression of a reviewer completely convinced by the value of pedagogy and utterly unable to fathom the idea of people creating learning for themselves. Consider this: "They (the exhibitors) fell utterly silent when pushed on pedagogy. More...

What's behind the soaring cost of college textbooks
Kathy Kristof, CBS, 2018/01/29
Digital technologies have made just about everything cheaper and more accessible, but textbook publihers have managed to use it to make education more expensive for students. That's the overarching message in this news report from the United States. More...

What’s behind the Intel design flaw forcing numerous patches?
Peter Bright, Ars Technica, 2018/01/05
This is probably the best technical description of the newly-discovered security problem in Intel chips ('newly discovered' in this case meaning 'discovered in November'). The problem has to do with the "speculative execution" of code by the chips. More...

10 Reasons for Optimism About Ed Tech in 2018
Matthew Rascoff, Learning Innovation, 2018/01/03

This article combines some much-needed optimism about educational technology (which has been in short supply lately) with some useful links. More...

Podcasting Equipment Setup and Software I use on the 10-Minute Teacher
Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher Blog, 2018/01/03
I always appreciate article like this describing the why and how of some aspect of education technology. In this case it's Vicki Davis describing the tools and methods she uses to broadcast a regular podcast (I've always been tempted - I love audio - but it would take more time than I have in a week). More...

Tear down this paywall: Germany’s taz newspaper launches a reader revolution from Berlin
Anna Rohleder, ijnet, 2018/02/02
There's no reason why this model couldn't work for academic or educational content as well. "Berlin-based daily Tageszeitung (taz for short) has more than 10,000 supporters who make recurring donations to fund its operations; 50,000 subscribers to its print and digital editions; and more than 17,000 reader-owners who pay a minimum of EUR500 to join the taz cooperative." Access to the content is free; no paywall. More...